1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to various keyboards for inputting characters and an electronic apparatuses using these keyboards, and particularly relates to keyboards using separator keys and code keys and digital electronic apparatuses using these keyboard system.
This application is based on Patent Application No. Hei 9-168223 filed in Japan, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, in a digital electronic apparatus, inputting of character information is generally executed by a keyboard. As a representative keyboard, there is the so-called QWERTY keyboard. Since the QWERTY keyboard possesses a large number of keys, it is desired to provide a keyboard which is capable of coping with the requirements of easy operation and reduction to a small size, for a portable electronic apparatus with a reduced size. This is because conventional keyboards in general, including the QWERTY keyboard, have too many keys including keys unnecessary for inputting Japanese characters.
A measure to cope with the above conventional problems was proposed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 7-244548. This technique relates to a keyboard in which some keys are arranged, differently from the QWERTY-type arrangement, into an oblique arrangement in which the keys become further from the operator toward the right side, and some keys such as "Q" key have different locations because the "Q" key locations is not so frequently used, and the "shift key" is disposed at an appropriate position suitable for portable apparatuses.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 6-102979 discloses a "keyboard operable by one hand".
This "one hand keyboard" operable by one hand will be described hereinafter with reference to FIG. 18, which illustrates the disposition of keys in the one hand keyboard, but first, a brief description will be given about the Japanese language, to facilitate understanding of Japanese character input.
The Japanese language is written literally as a mixture of "kana" characters, which are phonetic characters representing syllables, and "kanji" characters, which are Chinese characters or ideograms. The kana characters can be input by a keyboard, usually by entering a combination of roman letters corresponding to the pronunciation of the kana. For kana, whose pronunciation consists of a consonants plus vowel sound, first by inputting a consonant and then a vowel by roman letters, and then converting the two roman letters into a kana letter. Hereinafter, kana characters will be called kana characters or Japanese phonetic characters, and roman letters will be roman letters or simply letters. A more detailed explanation of the kana characters will be given later this application.
In contrast, since kanji characters are ideograms, kanji characters are input by a keyboard by inputting several kana by letters, and then the kanji characters are input by electronic conversion of these kana. Hereinafter, the kanji characters are called kanji characters or ideograms.
Referring to FIG. 18, the one hand keyboard 101 is composed of fifteen main keys 102, five control keys 103, ten function keys 104, four cursor keys 105, one kana mode key 106, one symbol mode key 107, one numeral mode key 108, and a shift key 109. In addition, the kana-mode key 106, the symbol mode key 107, and the numeral mode key 108 are indicated by respective lights, when they are active.
In turn, the main keys 102 for inputting data are disposed forming a matrix of three rows by five lines. The center row corresponds to five vowel letters. The other two rows correspond to ten consonant letters including unvoiced and semi-voiced letters. The four voiced consonants are input by two sequential strokes of unvoiced consonants. The remaining letters are input by using the shift keys. The voiced consonants may be input by two sequential strokes of the corresponding unvoiced letters. Thereby, input of Japanese phonetic characters by Roman letters and input of the letters of the alphabet may be executed with good operability.
This keyboard is designed so as to realize the same functions as those of the usual data-inputting keyboard by additional disposition of control keys 103, functional keys 104, cursor keys 104, the kana mode key 106, the symbol mode key 107, numeral mode key 108, and the shift key 109 around the matrix of the main keys 102.
Japanese Patent Application, Second Publication No. Hei 6-28085 discloses an improved keyboard. The keyboard is related to a control panel of a portable-type electric transmission apparatus of still images, in which a function key, numeral keys, a "*" key, and a "#" key are provided, and for each numeral key from "1" to "9", letter keys for "Q, Z", "A, B, C", "D, E, F", "G, H, I", "J, K, L", "M, N, O", "P, R, S", "T, U, V", and "W, X, Y" are allocated. Letters are input by first selecting a letter input mode by the function key, selecting a letter by, for example, the number of times of sequential strokes, and capital and lower case letters are input using numeral keys from "1" to "9", which are normally used for numerals. By successive strokes of, for example, the numeral key "2", the following characters are selected "2".fwdarw."A".fwdarw."B".fwdarw."C".fwdarw."a".fwdarw."b".fwdarw."c".fwda rw."2". This keyboard is designed so as to input symbol marks by selecting a symbol mark by sequential strokes of the "* key" and the "#" key.
For reference, the relationship between Japanese kana characters (phonetic characters) and their representation by letters is shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1 Japanese kana characters and their notations by letters. {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} A ka sa ta na ha ma ya ra wa ga za ba pa nn {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} I ki si ti ni hi mi ri gi zi bi pi {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} U ku su tu nu hu mu yu ru gu zu bu pu {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} E ke se te ne he me re ge ze be pe {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} {character pullout} O ko so to no ho mo yo ro go zo bo po
There is another keyboard which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, Second Publication No. Hei 2-86257. This keyboard can input Japanese phonetic characters by sequential strokes of the numeral keys from "1" to "9". The rows of kana are comprised of the "A-row" consisting of five kana corresponding to A, I, U, E, and O as shown in the leftmost column of Table 1; the "ka-row" consisting of the five kana corresponding to ka, ki, ku, ke, and ko, shown in the second column of Table 1; the "sa-row" consisting of the kana for sa, si, su, se, and so, shown in the third left column; the "ta-row" consisting of ta, ti, tsu, te, and to shown in the fourth left column of Table 1; the "na-row" consisting of na, ni, nu, ne, and no, shown in the fifth column of Table 1; the "ha-row" consisting of ha, hi, hu, he, and ho shown in the sixth column of Table 1; the "ma-row" consisting of ma, mi, mu, me, mo shown in the seventh column of Table 1; and the "ya-row" consisting of ya, yu, and yo shown in the eighth column of Table 1, the ra-row consisting of ra, ri, ru, re, ro shown in the ninth column of table 1. Inputting of the kana characters by letters is executed by selecting the input mode by a stroke of a function key, selecting a kana by successive strokes of a corresponding numeral key, and inputting the kana by a stroke of the numeral key. Inputting of letters including capital letters and lower case letters in addition to numerals is also possible by this type of keyboard.
Another keyboard is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, Second Publication No. Sho 61-188659. This is related to an electronic apparatus provided with a keyboard for inputting kana by letters and a conversion means for converting input letters into phonetic characters. This keyboard is provided with a unified key, which representing all keys except keys for inputting vowels and consonants at the time of inputting phonetic characters by roman letters, and a selecting means for selecting a particular vowel or a particular consonant by a stroke of the unified key.
Another keyboard is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Sho 57-159331. This disclosure is related to an electronic apparatus comprising an input means consisting of vowel character keys and consonant character keys; a signal generating means for generating a signal consisting of a judgement bit for judging whether the input letter is a vowel or a consonant letter and a control bit for indicating whether the input bit is the vowel letter or the consonant letter; an identification means for identifying whether the output signal from said signal generating means is a vowel signal or a consonant signal; an identification means for identifying whether the signal is a vowel signal or a consonant signal; and a signal generating means for generating designating a signal whether the letter to be input is composed of merely a vowel signal or merely a consonant signal, or a hybrid signal of the vowel signal and the consonant signal.
The hereinabove described conventional keyboard systems disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publications Nos. Hei 7-244548, Hei 6-102979, and Sho 61-188659, and Japanese Patent Application, Second Application No. Sho 57-159331 have the common drawback that these keyboards are inferior in input operability, due to the small area of their keys.
The reason for this is that the keyboard system disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 7-244548 is provided with 28 letter keys and ten numeral keys to be disposed on a keyboard of a portable type information apparatus, and the letter and numeral keys cannot be large enough to ensure the operability in an input operation.
The keyboard system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 6-102979 is provided with 38 keys in total including 15 main keys (serving both as the letter and numeral keys), five control keys, ten function keys, four cursor keys, one kana mode key, one symbol mode key, one numeral mode key, and one shift key to be arranged in a keyboard for one hand, and the area of each key is limited.
The keyboard system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Sho 61-188659 is provided with 25 keys in total including 15 alphabetical keys, and ten numeral keys, since alphabetical keys and numeral keys are separately provided.
Furthermore, the keyboard system of Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. 57-159331 is provided with 36 keys in total consisting of 26 alphabetical keys and ten numeral keys, since the alphabetical keys and numeral keys are separately provided.
The second drawback of the conventional keyboards is poor input operability of Japanese characters, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Applications, First Publications Nos. Hei 7-244548, Hei 2-86254, and Sho 57-244548. The reason is, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 7-244548, that the vowel keys and consonant keys are disposed on the keyboard in a mixed manner.
In the conventional keyboard system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 6-28085, letters A, I, U, E and O, corresponding to Japanese vowels, and letters K, S, T, N, and H corresponding to Japanese consonants, are allocated to identical keys, in a mixed manner, so that it is necessary to use several key strokes.
The poor operability of the keyboard system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 2-26257 is because the appearance frequency of each phonetic character is not taken into consideration. For example, when a character in the "o -line" (that is, o, ko, so, . . . ) is input, it is necessary to use up to six key strokes for each phonetic character, which results in increasing the number of strokes for inputting, and deteriorates the operability of the keyboard.
The poor operability of the conventional keyboard disclosed in Japanese Patent Applications, First Publications No. Sho 57-159331 is due to the mixed disposition of vowel keys and consonant keys.
The third drawback of the conventional keyboard systems which is found, for example, in Japanese Patent Application, First Publication No. Sho 61-188659 is its poor operability in inputting letters. This is because it is necessary to use several key strokes for inputting letters such as, for example, "Z".
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a character input system by a keyboard and an electronic apparatus which possesses a reduced number of keys on the keyboard, while facilitating the inputting of Japanese kana phonetic characters by letters (Roman letters) by making use of the characteristics of the Japanese language and facilitating inputting numerals and letters as well.